and food and vacations, too.

Month: January 2014
(page 1 of 2)

It was Friday afternoon as I was driving back to Ahmedabad from Gandhinagar. It had been a productive day, meeting bureaucrats, talking to them. As a journalist who’s new in her field, I still find it hard to talk to people. I have taken time to accept that it *is* my job to ask questions and it is *their* job to answer them. My asking questions does not mean I am disturbing them. I was pulling together my thoughts about the last 5 hours spent at the state capital, and forming plan of action as the radio played the 90s songs. 90s songs always make me nostalgic because growing up, television was my constant companion (before internet took over as my new best friend). I’ve never had many friends anyway. A Salman Khan song triggered a few memories and I smiled to myself. Only then did I realise that I had a smile on my face all along, and the memories just made me smile broader. For inexplicable reasons, this made me burst out laughing.

At the same moment, I noticed a guy on his bike was flickering his headlights. I thought he wanted me to move away from the fast lane so he could overtake. I obliged. He overtook, and I noticed “PRESS” written on his bike. Hmm. Birds of same feather, I smiled. He look at me through his rear-view mirror and slowed down. And before I realised, I had overtaken him. From the rear-view mirror, I could see him smile. He again flickered the headlights of his bike and I let him overtake again. This time I was determined not to overtake. We are not in some thrill movie. Racing is dangerous. And I like to be safe. However, he slowed down to the point that I could overtake him even if I were walking. (okay, that’s an exaggeration)

It repeated a couple of times, till I finally rolled down my window and asked, “Yes?”

“What’s your name?” he asked. Okay, maybe he’s a journalist and he has seen me before, and he’s being polite.

I suck at small talk. Even more when I’m expected to talk to people I’m not particularly fond of. And I am related to a lot of people I am not too fond of.

Last evening I spent amidst people, some I like, some I don’t and some I tolerate because if I don’t bow down to take their blessings, mother would disown me.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate all my relatives. I even like some of them. But then, whats the point of having relatives if you are not allowed to get irritated by them?

It was a cousin’s wedding last night and despite my protests on attending it and even trying to throw the “I’ve to go to work” card, mother didn’t relent. She even tried to get me to dance, but I didn’t pay any heed and pretended to be busy on a call when in reality no one ever calls me. Except my boss, maybe.

Anyway, I just thought of documenting the evening I spend avoiding people for posterity sake.

I am also coming up with a “How to avoid small talk 101 series.” Stay tuned.

Francis Cleetus has drawn some really witty, interesting and funny toons in his compilation. Yes, internet and memes form an integral part of our lives these days and this compilation has some subtle, some laugh out loud strips.

I don’t quite know how else to put it, but if you have spent a lot of time figuring out the use of F11 key on your laptop, go for this book.

What better time to come out with a ‘political thriller’ where the fictional prime minister is not from either of the major parties than the 2014 general elections looming over our heads? Prisoner, Jailor, Prime Minister by Tabrik C has an interesting theme, starts off well, but somewhere along the line, the plot is lost.

It spans out more like a 300+ page advertisement of Apple and Harley Davidson. Because of course India will have a cool PM, Sidharth Tagore in 2016 who loves his Harley. And his opponent, one Rukmani Devi, who likes to listen to Siddharth’s speech on her iPad. Attention to details, you see.

It seems a bit of a rushed affair, because though the plot is promising, there are lot of loose ends. Or probably I’m not bright enough to understand the subtleties the author has used.

Or maybe I just spaced out midway because the whole book keeps shifting between 85-86 to 90s to 2016-17. And there are some 1 page chapters, and then he jumps to a different time period. At some point I stopped reading which year I’m reading about and started playing guessing game about which period he’s talking about from the content. I think I had a mild headache after I finished reading.

And the nuclear blast that takes place in the book in the first chapter, does not find any mention till the book is over. You are left wondering isn’t the book about the Prime Minister who will miraculously save India from a terror attack? Because I was hoping it would be that. I was a tad disappointed because I actually had a lot of hopes from the book.

All that aside, if I ever get to meet the author, I would like to tell him I like his name. Tabrik. I may or may not have developed a crush on his name.

Anyway. I think it is worth reading once, but finish it in one go, because if you give it a break, you’ll have to re-read it to get back into it.